Sen. Johnson Invites Quack To Testify On Vaccines, Dangerous Virus ‘Cure’

As the world readies for the release of a coronavirus vaccine, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) invited an anti-vaccine doctor to testify in a hearing that promotes the use of a coronavirus treatment the Federal Drug Administration not only deems ineffective but also dangerous.

Dr. Jane Orient is one of four witnesses set to testify Tuesday morning at a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that Johnson leads. She told the New York Times that she’s skeptical of the forthcoming vaccine because, among other reasons, its “effect on fertility has not been determined” — a concern that is not based on any evidence.

Orient is testifying in the second part of a hearing called by Johnson titled “Early Outpatient Treatment: An Essential Part of a COVID-19 Solution.” Orient told the Times she “intended to use her testimony to call for government guidelines informing doctors about hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19 patients.” Continue reading.

No, Biden’s win wasn’t ‘statistically impossible’

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It was very possible, as evidenced in large part by the fact that it happened

Since Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, there’s been a lot of analysis aimed at somehow proving that his victory was a result of fraud or illegal voting. None of that analysis has offered credible proof of fraud, as dozens of judges in various courts and any number of independent observers have determined. But the goal is often less to prove the case than to suggest the case, to continue to present the well-settled issue as unsettled and thereby to present President Trump as having not yet lost his reelection bid instead of having clearly lost it a month ago.

In service of this objective, Trump’s supporters and the president himself have taken to declaring that Biden’s win was not just unlikely but “statistically impossible,” a term they generally use to mean something like “not possible — to the extreme.” But Biden’s win was possible, as made clear both through a detailed consideration of the claims of statistical impossibility and, more directly, by Biden’s having won the 2020 presidential contest.

Before we parse the claims of impossibility that have been floating out there, it’s worth pointing out that the term “statistically impossible” doesn’t really mean much. If something’s impossible, it’s impossible, and Biden winning the 2020 election was never impossible in any legitimate sense of the word. What people generally mean is that something is very, very unlikely, implying a sort of finality by using “statistically impossible” even when things have nothing to do with statistics. Continue reading.

Stop The Steal’ Protests Are Getting Smaller — And More Violent

Right-wing demonstrations protesting the November election results on Donald Trump’s behalf began winding down in numbers this weekend—but decidedly picked up intensity in the violence and threatening rhetoric that have accompanied them all this month, thanks mainly to the presence of armed paramilitary groups such as the Proud Boys and various militia groups.

The pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” protests seemed to lose some momentum this week, with just over a dozen such rallies recorded. However, what they lacked in numbers they made up for in ugliness: A demonstration in Olympia, Washington, on Saturday turned into a running series of brawls, culminating in gunfire, though no one was seriously injured. And in Michigan, a couple dozen armed protesters showed up at the home of the secretary of state during the evening as she was finishing up Christmas decorations and shouted threats at her and her family.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED), the total number of demonstrations, including those against COVID-19 pandemic health measures, declined this week. The majority of protests were Stop the Steal events, though both the numbers of the rallies and the numbers of participants declined sharply. Continue reading.

House HHS Finance Division considers COVID-19-related long-term care, homelessness funding proposals

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Finance Division considered proposals to continue protecting people living and working in long-term care facilities, as well as those experiencing homelessness as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding under the federal CARES Act is set to expire at the end of the year, and these items are among those to be considered during a special legislative session which Governor Walz has called for Monday.

“COVID-19 continues to impact vulnerable Minnesotans, and as 2020 winds down there’s an added sense of urgency to protect people,” said Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester), the division chair. “Some of the most vulnerable Minnesotans are counting on these continued investments. If the federal government doesn’t act, the Legislature must be prepared to deliver funding for these key supports.”

The committee discussed proposed legislation authored by Rep. Liebling to fund COVID-19-related priorities supporting Minnesotans in long-term care facilities, including measures to continue COVID-19 testing, a nurse triage line, staff support to monitor COVID-19 transmission, and infection control strike teams. The bill also includes $2 million for a temporary staffing pool that may be deployed to long-term care facilities and other group residential settings experiencing a COVID-19 related staffing crisis.

Continue reading “House HHS Finance Division considers COVID-19-related long-term care, homelessness funding proposals”

Newsmax and One America News gain prominence as they push Trump’s baseless theories

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Since his reelection loss, President Trump has launched a campaign against Fox News and encouraged his allies to tune into more extreme conservative news outlets such as Newsmax and One America News. Trump still harbors a grudge after Fox News called states and the presidency for Joe Biden, and he has expressed admiration for Newsmax and OAN’s more credulous coverage of his baseless voter-fraud allegations.

A new survey suggests it’s having an impact.

The survey from Gallup and the Knight Foundation shows an increase in the number of Americans who name Newsmax and OAN as being among two to three news sources they rely most upon. Continue reading.

In the Know: December 10, 2020


2020 Election 
Explaining the Supreme Court lawsuit from Texas and Trump challenging Biden’s win, CNN

Attorney General Keith Ellison
Attorney General Ellison sues to end Facebook’s illegal monopoly, Office of AG Ellison

DFL News
DFL Chairman’s View: Stauber, Trump eroding legitimacy of US government, Duluth News Tribune

Continue reading “In the Know: December 10, 2020”

Congress dares Trump to veto defense bill

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Congress is barreling toward a veto showdown with President Trump over the mammoth must-pass annual defense policy bill.

The House is scheduled to take up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Tuesday, and the Senate is expected to follow shortly after.

Both chambers are expected to have strong bipartisan votes in favor, even as Trump has repeatedly threatened to veto the $740 billion measure. Continue reading.

Gov. Tim Walz urges mask-wearing as bridge to vaccine

Mask use rises; details about vaccines, shutdown expected this week. 

Gov. Tim Walz is urging Minnesotans to stick with mask-wearing as the constant in the state’s COVID-19 response, even as other strategies change against a pandemic that now has caused more than 4,000 deaths statewide.

The governor thanked Minnesotans on Monday for a recent hike in mask-wearing, based on survey data, and said it should be a bridge for the state to a COVID-19 vaccine.

“It makes sense to everyone, being this close to a vaccine, to try and reduce those infections the best we can,” he said. Continue reading.

Armed Mexicans Were Smuggled In to Guard Border Wall, Whistle-Blowers Say

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In a complaint unsealed on Friday, whistle-blowers working on President Trump’s wall said that contractors were illegally bringing in Mexican guards to protect construction sites.

WASHINGTON — Two whistle-blowers have accused contractors building President Trump’s border wall of smuggling armed Mexican security teams into the United States to guard construction sites, even building an illegal dirt road to speed the operation, according to court documents unsealed by a federal judge on Friday.

The two employees, who were both contracted to provide security at the sites, accused the company, Sullivan Land Services Co., or S.L.S. — as well as a subcontractor, Ultimate Concrete of El Paso — of hiring workers who were not vetted by the United States government, overcharging for construction costs and making false statements about those actions.

The whistle-blowers said Ultimate Concrete went so far as to build a dirt road to expedite illegal border crossings to sites in San Diego, using construction vehicles to block security cameras. An unnamed supervisor at the Army Corps of Engineers approved the operation, according to a complaint filed in February and released on Friday. Continue reading.

Trump’s options dwindle as safe harbor deadline looms

President Donald Trump’s effort to snatch a second term through a series of state and federal court challenges has been flaming out for weeks. Now, the calendar has all but extinguished it.

Dec. 8 is the so-called “safe harbor” date for the presidential election, a milestone established in federal law for states to conclude any disputes over the results. Trump’s failure to gain traction in litigation, with his lawyers and allies failing to block crucial states from declaring Joe Biden the winner, means the safe harbor deadline stands as another potentially insurmountable reason for the courts to decline to intervene.

Trump’s legal team publicly says the safe harbor deadline is meaningless and they’ll simply disregard it. Set by a 140-year-old statute, the date isn’t enshrined in the Constitution, they say. But the campaign’s legal filings tell another story, as Trump’s lawyers pressed courts for urgent action ahead of the deadline midnight on Tuesday and warned of irreparable consequences if they don’t. Continue reading.